ABC’s glamorous new Ryan Murphy series, Doctor Odyssey, set sail last night, hot on the heels of the un-bee-lievable Season 8 premiere of 9-1-1. Set aboard a luxury cruise ship captained by Captain Massey (Don Johnson), the new series aims to be a high-octane procedural, and from the fast-paced premiere, ABC may have a new Grey’s Anatomy on its hands.
Within the first few minutes, Doctor Odyssey introduces its fast-talking cast of characters: the ship’s nurses Avery (Phillipa Soo) and Tristan (Sean Teale), who are waiting to see what Captain Massey will do after their former doctor botched a case (and in Avery’s case, vying for the newly-opened position); and Dr. Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson), the hot-shot (and wildly overqualified) doctor joining the crew.
Much like Murphy’s lineage of heightened and oft-nonsensical television series, the crew’s reigning motto aboard the cruise ship is to “preserve the fantasy,” a concept that Max seems cautiously amused by. Unlike his previous experience in hospitals, Max quickly learns that patients aboard cruise ships are in a league of their own. From iodine poisoning to penile fractures, the premiere gives the audience a taste of what lies ahead for the crew. Doctor Odyssey also seems to be teeing itself up to be a guest-star-of-the-week-style series, with Saturday Night Live’s brilliant Rachel Dratch making an appearance as the worried wife of the premiere’s first (and third) patient. It's got an air of The Love Boat to it — minus the pure sitcom element.
'Doctor Odyssey' Is Going the Slow Burn Route With Romance
One of the most important components of any good network procedural is romance. While some cases and season finales may live on in memory, the relationships hold the most staying power. The premiere (and that sizzling teaser for next week) makes it clear that the series is aiming for a will-they-won’t-they love-triangle situation, which is exactly what the doctor ordered. With their first interaction, Doctor Odyssey hints at Tristan’s unrequited crush on Avery, and then quickly shows audiences that the real sizzling chemistry is between Avery and Max. There’s an air of rivalry between them during their first case, where Avery proves to be the more astute of the two, and it quickly devolves into something more playful.
During one of their rare afternoons without passengers trying to 1000 Ways to Die themselves, the trio ventures onto land, where Max talks with Tristan about the nurse's obvious crush on Avery. This leads to Tristan making an absolute fool of himself in a dance-off against the doctor to the tune of “Despacito.” Tristan may have the moves too, but Avery chooses Max as her dance partner, and that dancing (and smooching) leads to the pair getting hot and heavy in Avery’s quarters — but not for long. They sober up quickly and realize there are a lot of ethical lines being crossed, and instead opt for bonding over Max’s traumatic backstory while they set up a line of electrolytes to fast-track sobriety. It’s too early to say where things are headed for these newly-formed ships, but I bet Doctor Odyssey is going to have a lot of fun with all the dynamics that are set up in the premiere.
'Doctor Odyssey' Builds a Mystery Around Its Lead
Over the last four years, the industry has really struggled with how to handle the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that wreaked havoc around the world. While some projects have opted to create worlds where it never happened, network television has been among the few to really embrace the pandemic and incorporate it into their plotlines. Given the fact that Doctor Odyssey is, at its core, a medical drama, it isn’t too much of a surprise to find that Murphy has used the pandemic as part of Max’s traumatic backstory.
While sobering up with Avery, Max recalls his near-death experience with COVID, where he was patient zero at the hospital where he previously worked. He nearly died, and it’s clearly left an impact on his life—like it did for so many people in the real world. One positive takeaway from the experience is that it taught him to “pursue joy at all costs,” which led to him signing up for a dance class, and eventually taking the job aboard the cruise ship. Avery is sympathetic to his experience but does ominously point out the downside to pursuing joy at any cost. It does seem like Doctor Odyssey is establishing an element of mystery to Max’s past that might go beyond his traumatic experience, but—like any good series—it doesn’t tip its hand too far, leaving audiences to tune back in weekly to get the full picture into what motivated him to make such an unexpected career change.
Joshua Jackson Was Made for Network TV
Joshua Jackson has been a staple on television since Dawson's Creek debuted back in 1998, thanks in part to the six-season series being frequently rerun throughout the mid-to-late-aughts after it ended in 2003. Doctor Odyssey marks Jackson’s return to network television after the end of Fox’s hit sci-fi series Fringe, which ended in 2013. While he has starred in the Fatal Attraction reboot series and Peacock’s Dr. Death anthology, Doctor Odyssey sees Jackson returning to what he does best: playing a dreamy lead.
Similarly, Don Johnson is back in his comfort zone with Doctor Odyssey. While his role is a far cry from the crime-solving actioners we’re used to seeing him star in, like Miami Vice and Nash Bridges, Johnson has the same network television quality to his performance. Both actors are keenly capable of taking case-of-the-week boilerplate episodes and delivering something fun and memorable for the audience, no matter what the plotline is. It’s a quality that makes both of their bodies of work endlessly rewatchable.
Does 'Doctor Odyssey's Premiere Live Up to Expectations?
ABC has Doctor Odyssey slotted into the perfect timeslot for the network: as a shot-and-chaser to the weekly mayhem of 9-1-1 and right before Grey's Anatomy brings audiences back in for Season 21. The pilot did decently well at establishing who the characters are while hinting at where their future plotlines might take them. Johnson's Captain Massey still feels like a bit of a dark horse, though it's clear he cares deeply about preserving the magic of the cruise ship experience.
Based on the trailer for next week's episode, it's safe to say that Episode 2 will delve deeper into who the stalwart captain is. The only real issue in the pilot is that it felt incredibly overstuffed. Hopefully, every episode won't have four medical cases to solve, so there's more time to be had with the core cast, and not just the rotating cast of guest stars falling overboard or breaking their clavicle. With its pilot episode, Doctor Odyssey gives an excellent sampling of what’s on the bill and promises to be one hell of a ride—even if Captain Massey swears the cruise ship is the furthest from hell you can get. Sexy network television is back, and, boy, we’ve missed it.
Doctor Odyssey airs on ABC on Thursdays at 9 PM ET and next-day on Hulu.
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